


friend like you

by finnigansfire



Series: deamus oneshots [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cute, Dean is shy, Developing Friendships, Friendship, Gen, Hogwarts First Year, Learning to be Friends, Misunderstandings, Oneshot, Self-Doubt, Short & Sweet, because this has some of that, both are wholesome babies, couldn't think of a title so: disney song, is friendship angst a thing, seamus talks too much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:40:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28652148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/finnigansfire/pseuds/finnigansfire
Summary: 'Being friends with Dean felt like it reallymattered– like, for some unknown reason, it was actually important – and yet he was still managing to completely mess it up.'Seamus learns that friendship might be a lot less effort than he thinks.
Relationships: Seamus Finnigan & Dean Thomas
Series: deamus oneshots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1681897
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	friend like you

It was the end of Seamus’s first week at Hogwarts, and he was sitting opposite Dean in a busy common room, examining his deck of Chocolate Frog cards and – most importantly of all – _not saying a word._

It wasn’t something that came particularly naturally to him. His mother often told people, laughingly, that her son could talk for Ireland, and she had a point. Whenever something got him especially excited Seamus had a tendency to ramble on and on, speaking so quickly that it was a miracle he managed to breathe. The problem was, he never noticed he was doing it until it was too late.

Sighing, he pulled another card from the deck: Bertie Bott. He opened his mouth, about to tell Dean about the time he tricked his uncle into eating a vinegar flavoured Bean once, but shut it just in time.

It was Dean who’d been on the receiving end of most of his ramblings for the past week, the latest of which had happened today at dinner. Seamus had overheard Ron explaining the unique defensive tactics of the Chudley Cannons to Harry, and before he knew it Dean had been listening to him monologue about the far-superior tactics of the Kenmare Kestrels for over 10 minutes.

At that point, he’d made a firm resolution not to talk for the rest of the evening unless it was absolutely necessary. He didn’t know if Dean was just too polite to stop him babbling on all the time, but Seamus was sure he was going to get tired of it soon.

Placing Bertie Bott back into the stack of cards, he glanced over at Dean, whose head was buried deep in a History of Magic textbook. _Unbelievable,_ Seamus thought, in a fond sort of way. They’d known each other for a whole week now, but Seamus was yet to find something he didn’t like about the other boy. He was just so _cool_ ; clever, friendly, artistic, sporty… Seamus couldn’t help but wonder why someone so brilliant would ever put up with _him_.

“What are Ron and Harry doing?”

Seamus blinked. Dean had stopped reading for a moment, a finger slotted between the pages of his book to save his place. He was peering across the common room at the other two boys, and as Seamus followed his gaze he saw that they were sitting on either side of a large board.

“Wizard’s Chess!” he said excitedly, turning back around.

“ _Wizard’s_ Chess?”

“Oh, it’s great!” he continued. “I can teach you if you like, I’ve got a set myself! Well, it’s my cousin Fergus’s really – you know, the one I was telling you about? – he said I could take it for my first year, make some friends, y’know? How about it?”

“I- er…” Dean stuttered, but Seamus was already up out of his seat.

“Save my spot!” he called over his shoulder.

He had reached the dormitory and pulled the chess board from his trunk before he realised that Dean hadn’t actually _said_ he wanted to play.

He stopped, heart sinking, and let the board drop dejectedly onto his bed.

Could he really not do anything right? His explosive tendencies were one thing ( _who cares if he’s bad at magic, really_ ) but this was different. Being friends with Dean felt like it really _mattered_ – like, for some unknown reason, it was actually important – and yet he was still managing to completely mess it up.

As he stood there, half-hoping the floor of the dormitory would swallow him whole, he caught sight of something on Dean’s bed. It looked like a blank piece of parchment at first, but as Seamus got closer, he saw that it was actually a letter.

He knew it wasn’t any of his business. He knew he should just leave the letter and get back to the common room. But his curiosity was getting the better of him, and – he thought, bitterly – he’d already ruined their friendship anyway, so what harm could it do?

Keeping an ear out for any signs of someone approaching the dormitory, he picked up the letter and read:

_Hi Mum!_

_I’m sorry I didn’t reply to your letter until now, I’ve had so much to do with all the lessons and the different types of magic I have to learn! There’s Charms and Transfiguration and Potions and Herbology and lots of others but I won’t write them all out now._

_The most exciting thing is, I think I made a friend! His name is Seamus-_

(At this point, Dean’s handwriting suddenly became neater, more careful, as if he’d taken extra time to spell out Seamus’s name right.)

_-and he’s teaching me all about magic. His mum’s a witch so he knows a lot already! Honestly, the stuff he tells me is way more interesting than any of the lessons we’ve had. Yesterday he told me that vampires are actually real! (Don’t worry – Seamus says they’re quite rare.)_

_I really hope he_ is _my friend. He always sits with me at meals, but I don’t really say much. He must think I’m proper boring, but I just want to listen to everything!! And anyway, I don’t think he’d find ~~Muggle~~ non-magic stuff very interesting. Magic really is a lot cooler. Sorry. I’ll have tell you more about it when I come home for Christmas-_

The letter cut off there, yet to be finished. Seamus began to run his eyes over it again, not quite sure if he could believe what he was seeing: so Dean really was his friend! And even better, he didn’t mind how much Seamus talked – he actually liked it! Seamus let out a little laugh as relief flooded over him. A _friend!_

With one last look, he placed the letter back on the bed, grabbed his chess set, and practically flew down the dormitory stairs into the common room. Dean was still watching Harry and Ron’s (rather loud) game with interest, his book now lying forgotten on his lap, but his eyes grew a little more apprehensive when Seamus placed his board between them with a flourish.

“So, want to play?” Seamus asked, already laying out the pieces. 

“I don’t know…” Dean hesitated. “Are you sure?”

Seamus shot him a grin. “We’re friends, aren’t we?” he said, and Dean’s answering smile might have been even wider than Seamus’s. He pulled his chair closer and began examining each piece that Seamus put down.

“You’ll have to teach me,” he warned as the last few pawns took position. “I’ve never even played Muggle chess before.”

“Ah, don’t worry. I’ll have you playing like an expert in no time.” Seamus paused, and then added, “There’s just one condition.”

“What’s that?”

He leant in dramatically. “You have to teach me all about football.”

Unsurprisingly, Dean didn’t have a problem with that.

**Author's Note:**

> aaaaaaaaa i love baby dean and seamus sm :((( 
> 
> my style has been changing SO much recently so idk if i like how this came out??? but i hope you enjoyed it! thank you so much for reading <3


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